Many health benefit plan providers and retail pharmacies now offer their clients the option of obtaining prescription drugs by mail. Mail order pharmacies ship prescription drugs to a client's home so the client is not required to visit a pharmacy and to fill a prescription in person. For clients with chronic conditions or other conditions that require maintenance drugs, a mail order prescription program is an attractive benefit because it is more convenient for the clients and typically less expensive than obtaining prescription drugs at a neighborhood pharmacy. For many drugs, clients have the option of purchasing a drug fill in a 60-day or even a 90-day supply at a lower cost than a 30-day supply.
Many mail order pharmacies use automated pharmacy systems and dispensing lines to process and ship a high volume of prescriptions on a daily basis. Depending upon how the technology is implemented and deployed within a mail order pharmacy, a substantial number of steps in the fulfillment process may be automated and the need for human intervention minimized. Mail order pharmacies operated in the US, like their neighborhood counterparts, must be licensed in a state and are subject to numerous rules and regulations established by the licensing state's board of pharmacy. One common requirement is that a pharmacy, whether a neighborhood pharmacy or a mail order pharmacy, must meet pharmacist verification requirements for certain prescriptions. Verification typically involves reviewing medication orders and overseeing the preparation and selection or packaging of medication doses according to the order to verify the right medication is delivered to the right patient.
For automated pharmacy systems, pharmacist verification involves manual steps that must be integrated into the automated fulfillment process. At a minimum, the pharmacist must verify the appropriate drugs are dispensed in the vials that are shipped to a patient. Although pharmacist verification is required as part of the fulfillment process, pharmacist involvement is not required in all aspects of the fulfillment process. In fact, pharmacist involvement in the fulfillment process beyond verification requirements contributes substantial labor costs that can reduce the cost-effectiveness of an automated pharmacy system. Therefore, there is a need for an automated pharmacy system with pharmaceutical order verification that meets verification requirements in an efficient and cost effective manner.